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User blog:Carlton Beaenkes/WWE Brand Split 2016 - My Thoughts
WWE is going to do a brand split between Raw and Smackdown this July. I know none of you guys will care, but I'm just gonna put this out here anyway. The decision to do the brand split is a great choice, albeit with bad timing considering that three of WWE's best young talents, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, and Cody Rhodes have all been fired this month. However, WWE's talent pool is far too big for everybody on the roster to get a chance to shine at this point. The brand split can create more time for several underutilized talents in midcard purgatory right now. Let's jump right into things. No brand-exclusive PPVs. This may be a surprising opinion, but I do not believe that PPVs should be brand-exclusive. I believe that the cards of pay-per-views could in theory be better if both brands included. Let's say Money in the Bank this year. If the brand split had already happened, a major Raw matchup could be Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Word Heavyweight Championship. Then, a major SmackDown match could be a grudge match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Now, instead of having them on different cards, how about drawing more subscribers to the WWE Network by putting them both on the same card? Doesn't that sound like a marquee billing? I would certainly think so. The Titles? There is currently a split opinion on whether or not to keep one undisputed world title or whether to go back to having two. To be honest, I side with the people who say to just keep one. I share an opinion with many others on this side that if we went back to having two titles, the World Heavyweight Title would end up playing second fiddle to the WWE Championship again. I do not think this is good for one of your prestigious titles. I also think that the Women's title should be kept as one single interbrand title, given that the division is a little shallow right now. I also feel that the Tag Team titles should be interbrand, so both brands can have stables. I do believe that the IC and US titles should be made brand-exclusive. I would put the US title on Raw, as most of the US title's most viable contenders are the bigger guys, and I've always thought Raw to be the show for the big guys. Since the IC title challengers are smaller and more athletic, I would put that title on SmackDown. There are also a few titles that I would like to add to the shows: Cruiserweight Championship: To the pleasure of smarks everywhere, WWE seems to be taking cruiserweights seriously, with the Cruiserweight Classic in the works. So, I figure now is as good a time as ever to relaunch the Cruiserweight Division. We're not giving it the 2004-2007 treatment though: oh, no, we aren't. I believe that the Cruiserweight title should be treated as important as the WWE World Championship for cruisers. WWE has a lot of cruiserweight on its roster now, so they have no excuse to not give this idea a chance. This title would be a SmackDown exclusive. Television Championship: My motive for including this title is because since SmackDown has the cruiserweight division, Raw needs a gimmick title as well. The Hardcore Championship was well-loved during the Attitude Era, but WWE's hardcore matches nowadays totally blow, so I don't think they'd be able to make it work. WWE could revive the European title, but that title really doesn't have any sort of gimmick to it, and I figured since the Hardcore title was merged with the IC title and should not be revived, this title should stay dead as well. But then, I found a popular idea that works and has not been done in WWE before: a Television championship. The agreed-upon rules to a Television championship are the champion has to appear and compete on the show every week. I believe that WWE has the undercard to make this sort of thing work. The Draft Now that we've covered the titles, it's time to move on to my picks for the draft! This draft is long overdue, and is eagerly anticipated. I will be drafting most of the roster, except for 4 part-time stars: *Brock Lesnar *The Rock *Triple H *and Undertaker Also not drafted here is David Otunga, who hasn't wrestled in 2 years. Draft Time! NOTE: The General Managers for each brand are Stephanie McMahon/Triple H making a surprise return for Raw and Shane McMahon for Smackdown. Raw #1: Roman Reigns (WWE World Heavyweight Champion) Fan hate aside, Reigns is the champion, and is being built up as the next major star of the company. What better way to legitimize him than making him the top dog on the bigger show? SmackDown #1: John Cena In this draft, John Cena has become more likely than ever to be drafted back to SmackDown after more than 10 years. Despite Reigns' status as champion, Cena is still the promotion's franchise star. Raw #2: Seth Rollins Reigns is definitely going to have a long-term rivalry with The Man, so he will be drafted on Raw alongside him. SmackDown #2: AJ Styles AJ is drafted to SmackDown for the same reason Rollins is drafted to Raw, as their program should continue through SummerSlam. Category:Blog posts